The present invention relates to material handling bins in general. More specifically to a bin that is fabricated of reinforced double-walled thermoplastic and is capable of being disassembled for storage and shipping.
Bin History
The General Forklift Handling Problem
Material handling by forklifts has always been the biggest problem affecting storage bin longevity, bin repair and bin replacement regardless of bin style and type. Customer supervision has been lax in demanding greater care and safety in the handling of all items by forklift operators. Also, the operators are driven by supervision to speed up the handling and moving of materials. Consequently, the xe2x80x9chaste makes wastexe2x80x9d caution goes out the window to meet schedules and/or cut labor costs by trying to do more with fewer operators thus resulting in serious damage by forklifts to buildings, pallet rack, floor mounted equipment, other forklift equipment, pallets, bins and a general hazard to other personnel.
Storage Bins in Industry
Large containers, that can be handled by a forklift, have generally been made of steel, wire, wood, corrugated paper (or combination thereof) and various versions of plastic, injection molded, structural foam, rotationally molded, vacuum formed and fluted plastic sheet. The Agriculture (AG) Industry, with the advent of fresh-cut packaged produce, has been forced to improve their handling of produce relative to the use of wood bins due to government regulatory agencies and consumer complaints of wood splinters and bacteria in edible products, some of which have resulted in illnesses, deaths and law suits. Wood bins cannot not be suitably sanitized.
The USDA has increased it""s involvement in this industry similar to the meat and poultry industry establishing suitable standards for bacteria control. The AG industry has accelerated it""s rate of conversion into using plastic containers as one of the alternatives to comply with government and consumer standards relative to elimination of wood splinters and sanitation. Individual companies are establishing control programs to secure certification of compliance by agencies that provide that service.
Wood bins are much stronger than plastic bins and will take a lot more abuse. In an effort to strengthen the wood bin in the forklift vulnerable areas of impact, the wood bin manufacturers resorted to adding galvanized sheet metal reinforcements nailed or bolted-on in the critical areas and large xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d shaped bolts to secure the panels to the corner posts. Consequently, in addition to the wood splinters and bacteria entering the vegetable process system the processors ended up with metal pieces falling off bins due to forklift damage and into processing equipment resulting in damaged machinery.
Metal detectors reject packaged product with metal particles. There is no suitable automatic means to detect wood splinters or bacteria, it has to be controlled by visual inspection and good processing procedures.
Plastic Bin Handling
The AG Industry fresh-cut processors"" eagerness to convert to plastic bins was destined to happen. However, little attention was addressed to the necessity to retrain the forklift operators in the handling of plastic bins. Plastic bins introduced a whole new set of operating problems as they cannot be handled in the same way as wood bins. Plastic is slippery and the bins will slide off the forklift forks if the operator does not slow down. The longevity of the plastic bin concept was very short when they were introduced to the AG industry. Plastic bin replacement cost went up over wood cost not to mention the significant difference in initial cost of plastic bins compared to the wood bins being replaced. Also, labor cost went up because forklift operators had to slow down or lose the load.
Again, plastic bins are not as strong as wood bins and it is doubtful they ever will be. Plastic bins did solve the wood splinter problem and bacteria problem providing bins are routinely washed. Wood bins were rarely, if ever, washed.
Present Plastic Bin Market Review
Some of the manufacturers who make plastic bins are AC Buckhorn, Orbis, Macro, Arca(Perstorp/Xytec), Ropak, Carson, OTTO, Stratis, Nucon, Ultra Poly, Pacific Bin, Bonar Plastics, American Rotoform, RMI, and others.
Plastic Bin Designs
Some of the bin designs are (1) a one-piece single-wall bin where the legs are hollow, (2) a two-piece bin where the bin has a replaceable pallet base, (3) an injection molded structural foam collapsible bin where the bin is made up of five sections, a pallet, two sides and two ends that readily fold down or up, (4) a rotationally molded single-wall bin and a double-wall bin. Item (3) has gained popularity in that it is economical and parts can be easily replaced.
New Bin Features
Reinforced Double-Wall Knock-Down Bin
It appears the one-piece (or two-piece) bin is the least desirable. What customers prefer is a bin that has replaceable panels, is strong, has good longevity, low in-bound freight cost, at the lowest cost per bin. That is why the collapsible bin concept is so popular. My Reinforced Double-wall Knock-down Bin invention described below meets the requirements for greater strength and longevity and exceeds that of existing bins.
Bin Stack Fork Entry Target Area
The most critical area of forklift impact is the entry area where the fork tines must enter under the bin to lift it, move it, and stack it. This is the target area that is speared by the forklifts. The top of the entry way which is the bottom of the pallet deck, and the top of the bin which is the bottom of the entry way of two bins, receives a lot of force from forklift tine impact, by direct hit and/or fork drag. Entry way clearance height is limited to maximize the inside of the usable bin height for product volume. The overall bin height is restricted to suitability of fit for equipment and transporting and any increase in entry way height will reduce the inside height of the bin and volume of product the bin will handle. Forklift operators, when exiting and having stacked one bin on top of another bin, have a tendency to drop the fork tines down onto the top lip of the bin below placing a heavy drag load on the bin top lip. The result of this action will cause either one or both bin top corners to tear-out. This problem is compounded by AG industry use of special fork trucks designed to handle 12 (2 rows of 6) bins at a time.
If the terrain, where the 12 pallet fork truck is operating in, has an irregular floor surface and/or if all of the forks are not in perfect horizontal alignment with one another then some of the forks may create greater drag on the bin tops. The thickness of the forks at the back of the tine almost takes up the clearance height between stacked bins and the clearance is considerably less if the bottom center of the bin sags due the load weight within the bin. Limited bin fork entry clearance, bin center load sag, and thick fork tines pose a serious maneuverability problem to the forklift operator.